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Toyota Chinook


Chinooking

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Hi;  I just bought a 76 Chinook and want to know if anyone knows where I can get an owner's manual, especially for the camper section.

Edited by Chinooking
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Thank you so much for the manual.  You guys really blew me away seen the manual up.  I was expecting some sort info but not the manual itself.  Thanks a lot.

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On ‎7‎/‎14‎/‎2016 at 10:21 AM, Derek up North said:
On ‎7‎/‎16‎/‎2016 at 4:16 AM, jdemaris said:

Here is the 1976 parts manual too.

76chinookpartscatalog.pdf

_78chinookowner.pdf

Thank you so much.

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I being watching videos on You Tube about leveling motorhomes and campers.   I keep my Chinook in the garage, but the garage has a small slop to the side making the Chinook tilt some to the driver's side.  Can any one recommend the best leveling blocks for that?  I also want to take the leveling blocks on the road.  I want to keep it level in the garage so I can have the fridge plug in so when I take camper out don't have to wait hours for the fridge to get cold.

Thanks

Edited by Chinooking
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I don't know how far off your garage is but if you always park it in the same place some nice wide boards stacked up to the right height that you can just drive onto work great. Just leave them there and it will always park level

Linda S

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The problem with the garage is that its not level sloping a bit to one side tilting the camper about 2" to the left on the driver's side.  I want to keep it leveled to relieve the tilt pressure on the shocks and because there is an electrical outlet nearby so I can keep the camper plugged in all the time with the camper's extension cord.  By the way, I plan to use the camper 95% of the time for road trips.  Do I still need to level it at the side of the road, parking lots, rest areas, etc.?

Thank you to all of you for your advise.  I really appreciate them.

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Thanks for the advise Derek.  Every piece of advise helps because I am new to the RVing world and I guess I have much to learn.  Linda S give me a great idea.  I am going to build a wooden leveling ramp just for the garage and get a simple store bought leveling ramp for the road.  Amazon has one for about $12.

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I'm 'cheap' (or, as the Scots say, 'thrifty'). I'd just lay a 2x6 on the floor to drive on. And for on the road some scrape pieces of 2x6 to drive on to. The advantage over 'store bought' (other than price) is that you can also burn them in a campfire if you're stopped somewhere with no wood available. :)

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Thanks Linda.  The idea was so the fridge would be ready when I use it because I heard that they take up to eight hours to get cold, which means a whole day of travel.  What do you do to get your fridge ready?  Mine has the original  optional fridge and not the standard icebox.  I was also advised that the colder the items are that you put in the fridge the better.

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9 hours ago, Chinooking said:

Thanks Linda.  The idea was so the fridge would be ready when I use it because I heard that they take up to eight hours to get cold, which means a whole day of travel.  What do you do to get your fridge ready.  Mine has the original  optional fridge and not the standard icebox.  I was also advised that the colder the items you put in the fridge are the better.

Just plug it in the night before and put some frozen bottles of water in the freezer. It will be ready by the time you leave and you won't trash your battery. Either way always check the water in your house battery every few months. They will last so much longer. Also only add distilled water, not purified, when it needs it

Linda S

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 Thanks Linda and 86 for your advice, really appreciate it.  And anyone else who wants to share their thoughts on the Chinook I will also appreciate it because this is my first RV and I am in the learning process.  My mechanic took a quick look at it and told me that the motor is in great shape, but I still want to do some things to it before I go on my first road trip.  By the way, Does anybody have any thoughts on the Good Sam Club?  Is it worth it?  Has anybody used the "up to 30% discount"  at Camping World with the Good Sam Club?

Edited by Chinooking
To correct some parts of my writing.
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Having a Camping World/Good Sam membership is ok to have, provided you have a Camping World near you to shop at.  However, you can get along just fine without it.  I'm remodeling the interior of my Dolphin, and I would guess that 90-95% of the stuff I've needed has been purchased via Amazon or at Lowes.  The Camping World purchases are usually the ones where I'm in the middle of a project and need one small piece that can't wait on shipping.  Even with the 30% discount, Amazon is usually a cheaper alternative and they have many, many more choices available.

If  you're not sure about the Camping World/Good Sam membership due to the cost, I would say spend the money on Amazon Prime membership for free shipping - financially I've found it to be a much better choice.  

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Thanks naganthunter for the info.  I do have Amazon's Prime and so far most of the stuff I have bought has been with Amazon because its kind of hard to beat their prizes.  For road service I have AAA which includes RV towing in my plan.  The reason I was thinking of Good Sam is because I read somewhere that at Flyers you can stay overnight for free if you don't plug in with Sam's membership and you also get a few pennies off for gas.  Although I plan to gas up at Costco as much as I can.

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As I said in my first post, I just bought a 76 Chinook as my first RV.  Going over it, I find that I really don't feel too comfortable with the five straps that hold down the roof while driving even though I plan to get new ones.  As an added safety, I was thinking about installing four of the pop-up trailer latches (the ones to keep their roofs down when closed) in the outside, two in each side.  Any thoughts or recommendations?

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I had to go somewhere today and on the way over I saw a Camping World store so I stopped.  What a disappointment.  Their merchandise seems to be mostly catered towards the class As and large travel trailers along with kind of high prices as far as I am concerned, even with the Good Sam Club discount.  I though I might check it out and maybe get a year's of Sam's for the discounts, but I think over all I can do much  better on Amazon and Walmart.  

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On 7/27/2016 at 0:30 AM, Chinooking said:

I had to go somewhere today and on the way over I saw a Camping World store so I stopped.  What a disappointment.  Their merchandise seems to be mostly catered towards the class As and large travel trailers along with kind of high prices as far as I am concerned, even with the Good Sam Club discount.  I though I might check it out and maybe get a year's of Sam's for the discounts, but I think over all I can do much  better on Amazon and Walmart.  

Agree.. went to one with the wife in search of a bathroom faucet replacement for the cracked one i had; the prices were outlandish.. ended up just cutting off the cracked fitting off the existing one and had enough remaining thread to re-attach the Pex.

the store was 50% novelty gifts taboot.

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I am thinking of buying a single plate induction cooktop for my chinook instead of using gas.  The Chinook has the original inverter installed and a house battery.  Does anyone know if the induction cooktop will work without any modifications?  I don't plan to cook for an army in the camper either, just simple quick things and boiling some water in small pot.  Any thoughts or recommendations? 

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How big is your inverter (watts) and what size is your house battery?

Your looking at a 150 amp discharge from your battery and would need a 2500watt inverter.

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All I know about the battery is that is a deep cycle marine.  The inverter is the original one that came with the Chinooks, but I don't know any thing about the watts.

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5 hours ago, Chinooking said:

All I know about the battery is that is a deep cycle marine.  The inverter is the original one that came with the Chinooks, but I don't know any thing about the watts.

Chinooks were never offered with inverters.   I think you have your terminology confused.  They DID come with Basler power-centers and small AC to DC converters rated around 15 amps @ 13 volts.

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Converter.... converts 120v ac to 12v dc when plugged in to an wall outlet, runs house lights, water pump and will charge the house battery. Many of the older design converts do a poor job of charging the house battery. 99% of RVs have a converter...

Inverter.... Inverts( changes) 12v dc into 120v ac. Connected to house battery . used to run computers, tvs, phone chargers, microwaves (for a short time), maybe even an inductive cook top. 20% of RV have inverters

Be advised a 1500w inductive burner, powered by an inverter, will exhaust the house battery in about 15 mins. A 100w solar panel will recharge the house in about 10 hours of good sun light.

So $150 battery, a $250 solar set panel setup, $850 for a 2500w sine inverter. Are you sure?? There is a reason for propane cooktops in a small RV.

 

Edited by WME
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Be glad you got a 1976 and not a 1973.  First ones were not available with propane, heat, stove, or refrigerator.  Federal government would not allow it due to weight on that little truck. Toyota beefed it up for model year 1975, and newer. 

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Mine is beefed up.  It has the heavier shocks in the back for towing and hauling and wider tires.  I just changed all four shocks.  It only has 81,200 miles so I guess they where probably the original ones.

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Linda, I being looking for the Chinook Group in this forum and I don't see it.  I can only see posts in the regular forum with the rest.

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